As MuchMusic’s demographic skew ever younger, the annual MuchMusic Video Awards have become a barometer for we dinosaurs who never tune into the station anymore of what the kiddies are into these days.

We already know they love Justin Bieber. That much was evident long before the MMVA broadcast began, long before even the red-carpet celebrity parade into 299 Queen St. had begun; most of those excitable young gals camped out in the stifling heat (minus the expected deluge) for hours as Sunday afternoon bled into evening appeared to be there for one reason and one reason alone. Some of them looked near fainting when a Universal Music street-team rep began handing out paper Bieber heads.

Bieber did snag a couple of MMVAs last night, the cumbersomely named International Video of the Year by a Canadian for his recent single “Boyfriend” and also, predictably, the viewer-voted UR Fave Artist trophy.

Nevertheless, Bieber was outpaced by Vancouver cutie Carly Rae Jepsen and her inescapable hit “Call Me Maybe” when the final MMVA tallies came in. Director Ben Knechtel’s shot-on-the-cheap clip for “Call Me Maybe” was deemed Video of the Year and the MuchMusic.com Most Watched Video, while Much viewers voted it the “UR Fave Video of the Year.”

“Oh, wow, it’s very heavy,” Jepsen joked as she hoisted her Video of the Year trophy.

Jepsen, of course, owes her recent, worldwide success — “Call Me Maybe” just hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after doing the same in more than a dozen other countries — to some well-timed Tweeting and YouTube foolishness on her behalf by young Mr. Bieber. Weirdly enough, too, one of the night’s other big winners, melodramatic Vancouver rockers Marianas Trench, have a “Call Me Maybe” connection, since frontman Josh Ramsay co-wrote the song with Jepsen and her guitarist, Tavish Crowe.

Clearly, the kiddies have an affinity for all things vaguely Jepsen-related. Either that or Chad Kroeger’s 604 Records, responsible for both Jepsen and Marianas Trench – who took Pop Video of the Year for “Haven’t Had Enough” and Cinematography of the Year for the explosion-fraught “Fallout” promo – has incriminating pictures of a lot of people behind the scenes at the MMVAs.

The biggest screams at Sunday’s MuchMusic Video Awards were for Justin Bieber, but his protégé nearly stole the show.

Carly Rae Jepsen was the night’s biggest winner, with the insanely catchy “Call Me Maybe” taking Video of the Year and the fan-voted UR Fave Video of the Year. Jepsen also claimed Most Watched Video of the Year.

The Mission, B.C., native, whose song topped the charts after it was championed by Bieber, also got a plum performance spot right after co-hosts LMFAO. She sang her hit perched on a telephone swing.

Jepsen reappeared later in the broadcast, singing “Wild Ones” with rapper Flo Rida, and she introduced Kelly Clarkson’s performance of “Stronger.”

Bieber and his manager, Scooter Braun, were on the list of people whom Jepsen thanked when she accepted her Video of the Year trophy.

But Jepsen couldn’t best Bieber in one category. The 18-year-old took the UR Fave Artist award, probably no surprise to anyone who heard the ear-splitting shrieks for Bieber on Queen St. W.

Bieber, from Stratford, Ont., had the crowd swooning from the moment he arrived on the red carpet with his baby brother Jaxon in his arms. Soon after the show started, he climbed the stage to accept the award for International Video of the Year by a Canadian.

“Thank you so much,” said Bieber, clad in a black T-shirt with a gold chain dangling from his neck. “I want to say thank you so much to my home. I want to say thank you to all my family, my fans, I wouldn’t be here without you guys. You guys are amazing, I love you.”

Well, the feeling is obviously mutual.

Bieber, set to close the annual awards bash, was clearly the evening’s main attraction. Fans clutched cardboard cutouts of his head, waved marriage proposals hastily scrawled on gigantic signs and wore purple and red headbands with his name written across.

Earlier in the day, some industrious Bieber followers were even spotted trying to squeeze underneath fencing set up around the perimeter of the stage in the hopes of possibly catching a glimpse of the singer.

It might have been the MuchMusic Video Awards, but for the pre-show crowd you might as well have called it the Justin Bieber Show.

Some fans started lining up along Richmond St. in the wee hours Sunday morning to ensure a prime spot, and the chance of an autograph or picture from the teen idol.

“I’m a little anxious,” said Bieber fan Daniela Dominguez, 18, who arrived at 11 a.m. and found herself in the front row of the crowd. She was clutching a copy of Forbes magazine with Bieber on the cover and was hoping for an autograph.

She was planning to yell “I’ll be your somebody to love,” a Bieber lyric, to get his attention.

Nick Mior, of Toronto, had his 4-year-old son Giovanni on hand sporting a purple “Mini Bieber” hat. The young boy is a singer in his own right, his dad said, and is hoping Bieber will sign the hat.

Sunday’s crowd was Belieber-heavy, but the Stratford, Ont., singer wasn’t the only hot commodity on the carpet. Kawther Mahamed, 13, was hoping to see singer Cody Simpson and Degrassi star Munro Chambers.

And Jessie Fisher, 21, drove from Memphis, Tenn. just to catch a glimpse of Glee star Darren Criss. She left Memphis at midnight and was at the MMVAs 15 hours later, she said.

“I just want to get a picture and an autograph, that’s it,” she said, adding that her room is covered ceiling to floor with posters of Criss.

“It’s pretty epic, man,” Dallas star Jesse Metcalfe said of the awards. “I was here back in 2006 and one thing I remember from that experience is that the energy is just crazy. It’s really all about the fans.

“I think the difference is the crowd at a lot of other award shows is seat-fillers and celebrities, people that are kinda, like, too cool. So you don’t get many as big of a reaction. But this whole audience is fans, so people go crazy.”

Outrageous electro-pop duo LMFAO opened the show with a crass mashup medley of their ubiquitous dancefloor hits. The irreverent duo took the stage surrounded by acrobatic dancers (including someone in a plush pink bear costume and several inflatabale zebras) before eventually stripping to thongs.

With the threat of rain hovering, many fans were clad in yellow plastic slickers, and they came in handy when LMFAO popped a couple of bottles and sprayed the contents indiscriminately across the first few rows.

Later, hip-swivelling Victoria songstress Nelly Furtado put in a glittering take on her new single “Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)” and British rising star Ed Sheeran put in a contemplative performance of his song “The A Team,” a stark contrast from the typically ostentatious MMVA setpieces.

The evening’s red-carpet introductions weren’t so restrained.

Katy Perry stole the pre-show by arriving with a line of kids, each dressed up as characters created by the pop bombshell which appear in the music videos culled from her smash sophomore album Teenage Dream.

Jepsen arrived in a convertible being polished by two shirtless gentlemen; Flo Rida rolled down in a sleek silver Lamborghini and Marianas Trench — the evening’s leading nominees with seven nods — hit the carpet inside a mobile bouncy castle surrounded by toy soldiers.

After emerging, they hopped about with inflatable horses strapped to their pants. They were then immediately presented with awards for Pop Video of the Year and Cinematography of the Year.

With files from Michael Woods and The Canadian Press

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.